For many, the end of January in Leeds might mean post-exam relief or maybe just more stress at the thought of starting a new term. Equally, perhaps it’s despairing at already broken New Year’s Resolutions that lie in the gutter alongside last term’s notes and your gym membership card. The end of January for many however also signifies the end of Januhairy, a month-long campaign started by Exeter University student Laura Jackson to raise money for Body Gossip, a charity that inspires Body Image Positivity. What has since become a movement has had women all over the world putting down their razors and wax strips for one month to encourage themselves and others to feel more confident in their body. This has made me reflect on my own relationship with my body hair, as a young woman who has never once shaved her legs.
(Image: Istagram @janu_hairy)
I remember that conversation I had sitting in a circle with a group of friends, outside on one warm summers’ day at school. At 13, I knew it wasn’t just me, we were all looking around to see who had shaved their legs, and we talked about it. Most girls had or had done at least the lower leg. I looked at them and suddenly realised that there was this unspoken rule I hadn’t been aware of, hair removal, as I began to understand, seemed like a rite of passage to becoming a woman. Whilst I saw this affecting them, I honestly had little to no desire to shave my legs. I did subconsciously succumb though to the pressure to shave my under-arm hair. My mum never once suggested that I do wax or shave when I asked her about it but when I persisted about my under arms, she bought me the razor, simply saying that it would never grow back as fair as it was now. This idea did strike a chord with me, though I had let pressure dictate one of my choices. I think my leg hair became the new thing I cherished, I knew if I shaved it, it would grow back a lot stronger looking than it already looked, and this was the first reason why I never shaved my legs.
Fast forward a few years later and I did think seriously about removing it at a couple of points. A Summer tour group trip with 30 other 16 year olds was the first time I thought I might feel ashamed of it, stared at and have to explain myself. Then every summer then on, as my legs would start to be on show, I would often get double takes, and was unsettled by this. I didn’t want people to assume I was one of those hairy, angry, bra-burning feminists because I thought, ‘well, that’s not me’. I was still coming to terms with owning my body hair, yes, I am one of those do-whatever-the hell-you-want people, that’s why I never followed what everyone else did, but I also didn’t like to be assumed to be militant and trying to prove a point. Then I realised, why does it have to mean that someone is trying to prove a point, and why is this whole thing even a conversation?! The reason I had such a complex about this was because of the negative images (of these types of women) portrayed by the media. But no one should feel shame about the way their body naturally functions or what it grows. Why is my simply having body hair considered a statement? I know a lot of women wouldn’t remove body hair if they weren’t made to feel ashamed of it. But, why does body hair have to be seen as any different from the hair that comes from my head?
I know many girls have internalised this shame and said to me, ‘but you’re blonde, so you’re leg hair isn’t even that dark’. That’s true that especially during the Summer, my hairs get lighter and aren’t as prominent, but I’m not claiming to have the darkest or the most hair. The point is that it shouldn’t even matter whatever type of hair you have. If you want to shave, that’s fine! I probably will never know that supple smoothness of a leg feeling like a baby’s bottom, and I don’t really care. If you are satisfied by that, however, you should do it because you want to, not because you’re afraid of what people will say, their stares or their ridicule. Once it stops mattering to you, the rest of the world can deal with their perceptions of it. Don’t let anyone tell you how your body is meant to look, it’s your body, you decide.
(Image: Instagram @jany_hairy)
Finally, this whole campaign has been incredible for women to realise that that we shouldn’t be wasting time and money on something so insignificant. This month I have further not shaved my under-arm hair and last night took a bolder step personally and went out clubbing with it out on full display, boy did it feel great. Sometimes it’s just those little steps which tell you that simply being you is enough and worth it.